THE MOUNTAIN COMES TO MOHAMMED

Dan Saunders, Gabriella Reyes de Ramirez, Gerard Schneider, and Adrian Timpau

We have no idea whether the audience members who cheerfully sat in the drizzle last night are regulars at The Metropolitan Opera, or whether they have ever been there.  No matter. The Met brings operas to the boroughs of Manhattan and we applaud the institution for spreading the culture far and wide. We would be surprised if they didn't make some new converts, based upon the very high level of artistry we witnessed.

With the always wonderful Dan Saunders accompanying, three impressive talents joined forces for an all-too-brief (but nonetheless satisfying) recital of operatic favorites. We wanted the evening to never end!

Tenorrific Gerard Schneider opened the program with the rousing "Questa o quella" from Verdi's Rigoletto, leaving us no doubt about the Duke's fickle personality. What we love about Mr. Schneider's technique is that he knows how to float a high note and never pushes his voice. To hear a delicately floated pianissimo is a delight; to produce such a phenomenon seems out of reach to most tenors who think that their top notes must be fortissimo. 

Baritone Adrian Timpau brought Da Ponte's clueless Count Almaviva to vivid life in "Hai già vinta la causa" from Mozart's Nozze di Figaro. He nailed Almaviva's personality and did so with a unique tonal quality that made us think of corduroy, for some strange reason, perhaps because it is plush like velvet but with more texture.

Soprano Gabriella Reyes de Ramirez gazed upward when singing "Stridono lassu" from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci and we saw the birds through her eyes whilst her voice trilled away with its gorgeous vibrato. The illusion was fostered by Mr. Saunder's piano.

With those three fachs on hand, of course we had to hear the trio from Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore. Adina gets to relish the enviable position of having Nemorino and Belcore competing for her attention in "Tran, tran, tran, tran". We know how singers love to do drunk scenes and Mr. Schneider did not fail us.

No one will ever replace Hvorostovsky but we have no worries about the next great Verdi baritone. Mr. Timpau was superb as Rodrigo, expressing friendship to Mr. Schneider's Don Carlo, who engaged our ear once more with his gorgeous pianissimo.  ("Work it Gerard!", we thought.) "Dio, che nell'alma infondere" had a great rhythmic thrust with Mr. Saunders producing the thrumming chords in the piano. The vocal harmonies were delicious.

Turandot's aria "Tu che di gel sei cinta" is often screamed out. Not so in Ms. Reyes' portrayal which was as dramatically valid as it was musically effective. The high tessitura and high drama held no terrors for her.

Mr. Timpau wowed us with his well modulated performance of Yeletsky's aria "Ya vas lyublyu" from Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame. Here's the strange part--we only know about a dozen words in Russian but his performance left us feeling that we understood every word, as well as experiencing every feeling!

We do love serenades and Faust's serenade of Marguerite from Gounod's masterpiece was given a sincere and tender performance by Mr. Schneider who once again delighted us with his pianissimo. His French was given lovely pronunciation and phrasing and Mr. Saunders joined in with some lyrical and tender piano.

"La ci darem la mano" from Mozart's Don Giovanni was sung by Mr. Timpau, who got into the role of the seducer, and Ms. Reyes who seemed not to have much point of view about Zerlina as to whether she was frightened of the lord of the estate or a willing participant, or ambivalent.  Vocally fine, she just needs to think about what kind of Zerlina she wants to be.

Mr. Schneider had no such deficit in his delivery of "Kuda, kuda", Lenski's aria from Eugene Onegin. The young man is filled with conflicting emotions as he faces death at the hands of his friend. The various colors Mr. Schneider employed, as well as his facial expression and gestures, took us right to the heart of Lenski's maelstrom of feelings.

We do not know Carlisle Floyd's Susannah very well but we've heard lots of sopranos sing "Ain't it a Pretty Night". It will never be among our favorite arias; at times the words feel shoehorned into the music. That didn't stop up from enjoying Ms. Reyes' performance which was filled with youthful longing. Her English diction was flawless and we understood every word, something we don't take for granted. The high note was stunning.

We have never seen Wagner's Tannhaüser but have loved the aria "O du, mein holder Abendstern" since we heard it in a film by the Taviani Brothers. (We thought it was in Padre Padrone but seeking an answer online, we read that it was used in La Notte di San Lorenzo. If any readers know the correct answer, please add it to the comment section.)

In any case, Mr. Timpau sang it in gorgeously rendered German, not to overlook the melismatic passages. We were transported!

The program ended with  "O soave fanciulla" from Puccini's La Bohème, one of the world's great romantic duets, sung by Ms. Reyes and Mr. Schneider, who walked offstage arm in arm.

But wait! There would be three encores which was like a meal with three desserts! Ernesto de Curtis' 1912 "Non ti scordar di me" was given a beautiful performance by Mr. Timpau. Mr. Schneider sang the open-hearted "Dein ist mein ganzes herz" from Franz Lehar's Das Land des Lächelns and he sang it with his finely spun pianissimo which we enjoyed all night.

Finally Ms. Reyes enchanted the entire audience with "Carceleres" from Ruperto Chapí's zarzuela Las Hijas del Zebedeo, sung with high style and lots of sabor. Readers who know how we feel about zarzuela will know why we floated out of Jackie Robinson Park with feet not touching the ground. Good singing will do that to us!

(c) meche kroop

KATYA KABANOVA AT JUILLIARD

Gerard Schneider and Felicia Moore (photo by Hiroyuki Ito)

We love introducing newbies to opera! Leo Janacek's Katya Kabanova is not our idea of a "starter opera" but our guest last night absolutely loved it. For this we credit the superb artists of Juilliard Opera whose superlative singing and convincing acting brought the story to vivid life, bringing out the themes of rebellion against a constricted life and the costs to society of subjugating women.

We also credit the astute direction of Stephen Wadsworth and the fine instrumentalists of the Juilliard Orchestra, under the baton of Anne Manson, who also conducted Janacek's  The Cunning Little Vixen some four years ago.

For this opera, Janacek wrote the libretto himself, based upon Alexander Ostrovsky's 1859 Russian play The Storm. It premiered in Brno in the Czech Republic in 1921 and the music is modern but not painfully so. There are riffs on Moravian folk music and lyrical passages, as well as plenty of anguished discordancy.

We think of it as a tale of two families, the interrelationships of which are complex. The small town in which they live is like small towns everywhere, filled with busybodies, familial obligations, hypocrisy, and religiosity.

At the head of the Kabanov family is the widow Kabanova (Kabanicha) who rules with an iron fist. We never learn what makes her so vicious toward her daughter-in-law Katya and her unhappy son Tichon who drinks and is afraid to defend his wife. Everyone tries to please Kabanicha but no one succeeds. The very idea of her accepting sexual pleasure from her neighbor seemed unbelievable.

There is a lovely young woman in the household--Varvara, a foster child who is somewhat less afraid of her adopted mother. She is having a romance with Kudrjas, a clerk for the wealthy next door neighbor Dikoj. Dikoj is another nasty person who bullies his young nephew Boris.  Boris has to curry favor with Dikoj who controls his inheritance.

When mother-in-law Kabanova (Kabanicha) sends her son away for 10 days on business, the unstable Katya begs her husband to stay, or to take her away, or to place control on her impulses. When repression is so severe, there are always unacceptable impulses!

Boris has met Katya only once but has seen her daily in church and has fallen in love with her. Kudrjas warns him that Katya is a married woman but Boris cannot control his lust.

Katya makes an attempt to control her desires but Varvara eggs her on to meet Boris in the locked up summerhouse in the garden. She meets him nightly in spite of her feelings of guilt. When Tichon returns she confesses and brings on the wrath of both son and mother. Her religiosity and her guilt lead her to drown herself in the river.

Janacek's opera seems to follow two divergent paths: on the one hand, it immerses itself in the life of a small provincial town in 19th c. Russia; on the other hand it makes use of Realism in its dispassionate view of this culture, somewhat at a remove. This duality can be heard in the music as well.

The lead role was sung by soprano Felicia Moore, whom we so much admired recently in a Mozart concert aria, was most affecting in the emotional final scene.  As Varvara, mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey was a vivid and enlivening presence and sang with her customary gorgeous tone. Inwardly, we cheered when she and Kudrjas made plans to escape the oppressive environment and leave for Moscow. Tenor Sam Levine made an excellent Kudrjas and was fortunate enough to get the only "aria" in the opera--it was a folk song of simple and repetitive form but we loved it. 

Bass Alex Rosen was a brutal Dikoj, and represented all the ignorance of his generation and that stifling culture. In the storm scene, he denied the existence of electricity and called lightening a punishment from God. Rosen's booming bass was just right for the part. As his nephew Boris, tenor Gerald Schneider used his fine instrument and effective acting to create a romantic hero, in spite of the fact that Janacek eschewed Romanticism.

Mezzo-soprano Sara Couden colored her voice with nastiness in the role of Kabanicha. Ms. Couden was fearless in creating such an unlikeable character.

Tenor Miles Mykkanen has such a particular talent in recital that it is astonishing to see him melt into his character on the opera stage. He looked and sounded exactly right as the bullied son Tichon, strangely bound to his miserable mother.

The role of the servant Glasa was sung by soprano Maria Fernanda Brea. Mezzo-soprano Nicole Thomas was Feklusa, another servant. Baritone Xiaomeng Zhang portrayed Kudrjas' friend Kuligin. We even saw the lovely Kady Evanyshyn (reviewed yesterday) onstage, as well as Chance Jonas-O'Toole.

Vita Tzykun's costumes were perfect with the servants getting the colorful dresses.

Charlie Corcoran's set comprised one large room divided into areas--a bed, a wardrobe, a table and chairs.  This was behind a facade showing the exterior of the house which, when raised, gave one a feeling of voyeurism. A gate stood for the entrance to the garden. We were a bit puzzled by the flying bed which was raised and dangled from the roof of the theater.

Nicole Pearce's lighting was subtle but evocative.

Anne Ford-Coates did the Wig and Makeup Design.

There is one point of argument that will never be resolved because opinions on both sides are strong. It is our opinion that using an English translation robbed the work of something special. Janacek's vocal lines were dictated by Czech speech patterns.  Shoehorning an English translation into the vocal line just didn't sound right to our ears. Often, too many words were forced onto too few notes.  Half a dozen people we know and discussed this with agreed with us but two were happy with the English.

We do understand that learning a rarely produced opera in Czech might have been too much for the singers. We also understand that many people believe that "accessibility" is a more important value. In non-musical theater we also would prefer to hear our own language in the interest of accessibility. But opera is more than theater!

We will say that the translation by Yveta Synek Graff and Robert T. Jones was as good as could be expected and we commend the singers on superb enunciation. Titles were projected but were unnecessary.

(c) meche kroop

A MASTER CONDUCTOR'S MASTER CLASS

Participants in Emmanuel Villaume Master Class at Juilliard (photo by Michael DiVito)

Thursday's Master Class at Juilliard was unusual and unforgettable. Most master classes involve a single singer getting coached in the finer points of song interpretation. The class conducted by Maestro Emmanuel Villaume (through the Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts and the Collaborative Piano Departments at Juilliard) involved three duets and one ensemble. As one might have expected, the charmingly Gallic maestro worked exclusively in French.

Apparently, he had already worked with this select group of students, all graduate students, because they sounded just terrific before their coaching. That being said, each pair reached a new level of artistry within their strictly allotted half hour. The progress was remarkable. Maestro Villaume has a profound understanding of each character, as much as any director; but he fosters characterological authenticity within the musical context. Show me anyone else who achieves this depth!

In general, he likes to play with the concept of tension and release in the vocal line. He urged the students to find reasons for the silences between phrases by focusing on the thoughts the character might be having. He advised the students to listen to each other, which, we imagine, is even more difficult than it is in the theater, given that there are so many other things with which to be concerned.

Two coaching sessions involved Georges Bizet's masterpiece Carmen, a masterpiece which the composer thought was a failure when he died, never knowing that it would achieve the position of the most-produced opera ever. We had tenor Alexander McKissick as Don Jose in the Act I duet with Micaela, portrayed by soprano Maria Fernanda Brea, accompanied by Michael Biel. 

They worked effectively on character. Don Jose is happy to see her but rather ambivalent in his affection due to his recent encounter with Carmen. Of course he wants to hear how his mother is in "Parle-moi de ma mere". He can be gentle here but he must color the phrase differently when he repeats it. One can sing agitato while singing piano.

Micaela must be shy but also flirtatious.  She means to marry Don Jose as his mother wishes. But she is innocent and knows nothing of his situation.  Ms. Brea also conveyed a sense of her character's inner strength which she would call upon in Act III when she goes into the mountains to find the wayward DJ.

Next we heard soprano Christine Taylor Price as Leila and tenor Miles Mykkanen as Nadir in the Act II duet from Bizet's Les pecheurs de perles. This provided the perfect demonstration of the tension/release concept we noted above, to avoid metronomic phrasing which is just boring. Collaborative pianist Will Kelley was astute in getting that point.

A phrase from pharmacotherapy came to mind which can also apply to a scene.  "Start low and go slow". Obviously if you begin a scene with great intensity, there is nowhere to go. In this scene, Leila must listen closely to Nadir's line and to enter not only at the right time but at the right level of intensity. No wonder we love duets!

Further instructions were given to use the consonants to project the vowels. We have noticed this deficit rather often in American singers who often sound afraid of the consonants. A further point was made that French opera is "softer" than Italian opera.

This point was reiterated in the next duet from  Jules Massenet's Werther. There is no melodrama in French opera! "Il faut nous separer" is a suspended waltz which, like the relationship between Werther (sung by tenor Gerard Schneider) and Charlotte (mezzo-soprano Natalia Kutateladze), goes nowhere. CP for this duet was the excellent Katelan Terrell.

Much time was devoted to phrasing and knowing which words in a phrase to weight. The crescendo on long notes can continue in intensity through the silences. The singer can feel without "acting".

A fine point of French diction was to allow the final "e" of a word (like "cherche") to evaporate.  It's there but it should never be obvious.

The final coaching was the most fun and apparently delighted the audience as well as the singers. We will never be able to hear the Act II quintet from Carmen without remembering the points made by Maestro Guillaume. We would tend to agree that making this scene light-hearted like a cabaret sets up the audience for the tragedy to come. 

Le Dancaire (sung by baritone Dimitri Katotakis) and his sidekick Le Remendado (tenor John Noh) are trying to persuade Frasquita (soprano Anneliese Klenetsky) and Mercedes (mezzo-soprano Kady Evanyshyn) to come along on their next smuggling adventure. 

Only Carmen (mezzo-soprano Amanda Lynn Bottoms) refuses.  And then....she drops the bombshell!  She is "amoureuse". The group is incredulous. We have never scene this scene done so effectively; it was accomplished by increasing the tempo and getting each singer to make a more decisive entrance. The entire quintet must be propulsive. Nathan Raskin at the piano had much to contribute in this regard.

Singing about duty (devoir) and love (amour) requires very different coloration.

Another point was that Dancaire's portamento can be used to show his humorous incredulity.  Very effective! These characters are having fun and in a way are playing themselves, perhaps a bit self-consciously. Maestro Villaume injected one final touch that was very effective--a rivalry between Frasquita and Mercedes. The latter sings a line and the former repeats it while upstaging her.

What a worthwhile class! So much information imparted graciously and effectively. 

(c) meche kroop

GERMAN FORUM SCORES A BIG WIN

Mariella Haubs, Babette Hierholzer, Gerard Schneider, and Jardena Fluckiger

Evenings of classical music offer many delights but transcendent moments happen but occasionally and produce feelings of incomparable bliss. We experienced just such a moment last night at the German Forum concert at the intimate Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center.

The special moment occurred when tenor Gerard Schneider was singing Richard Strauss' "Allerseelen". The poet tells of the sole day of the year when one gets to reunite with loved ones who are no longer on this earth. Mr. Schneider sang it with a depth of feeling that leapt right from his heart to ours. It was the the kind of connection we dream about and what every singer longs to achieve. Our eyes brimmed with tears.

By contrast, he sang Strauss' "Zueignung" with a blend of tenderness and passion that was thrilling to hear. Here is a tenor well on his way to superstardom who knows exactly how to use his gorgeous instrument. He also sang selections from Schumann's Dichterliebe with great control of dynamics and color, soothing the sore ears we got from enduring a recent awful performance, one we declined to write about.

And if one wanted something lighter, he gave us "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz", the well known aria from Franz Lehar's Land des Lachelns; he sang it ardently and we were completely enraptured. "Ach, so fromm" from Friedrich von Flotow's Martha was sung with the tender tones of love.

Soprano Jardena Fluckiger has a lovely pure tone and entertained us with some of our favorite songs by Hugo Wolf, selected from his Italienisches Liederbuch. She has an expressive face that complements her voice, and when she employs bodily gesture it adds a fine dimension to her performance. We always love the racy "Ich hab in Penna einen Liebsten wohnen" and, after the punchline, Babette Hierholzer's piano contributed the most delightful postlude.

Ms. Fluckiger gave us some impressive coloratura singing in "Quel guardo" from Gaetano Donizetti's Don Pasquale. The embellishments were well handled and there was a particularly fine trill.

Compared with the bel canto fireworks, the two songs by Claude Debussy from Quatre chansons de jeunesse seemed a bit pallid and wanted more color.

Rounding out this superb program was music for violin and piano, performed by Ms. Hierholzer and concertmistress of the Juilliard Orchestra Mariella Haubs, who deserves all the accolades she receives. She was playing a Peter Guarneri violin from 1721, loaned by The Juilliard School, and what a sound came from this instrument!

Ms. Haubs is beautiful and glamorous but if you close your eyes you would believe it was someone very very famous and of more advanced years. The star number was the first movement of Beethoven's Kreutzer sonata, the presto section of which is forceful and technically demanding of both pianist and violinist. The two artists rose to the occasion to such an extent that we wanted desperately to hear the rest of the sonata but, alas, it was not on the program.

Instead we heard "Winter" from Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, a seasonal selection in which we could hear the snowflakes falling. Also on the program was Mozart's Sonata in F Major with its rapid fire triplets.

The evening ended with two selections from Lehar's Die Lustige Witwe.  First, Mr. Schneider sang the role of Camille, Count de Rosillon, inviting Valencienne (Ms. Fluckiger) to a romantic rendezvous in a pavilion. Then we heard "Lippen schweigen", the Act 3 duet between Hanna and Count Danilo, accompanied by violin and piano.

The German Forum, helmed by President Henry Meyer-Oertel, provides performance opportunities for artists from German speaking countries and has a loyal and devoted following. Many of the members share a passion for German composers and, naturlich, the singers sing German the way it should be sung. Their events are always major treats! Those who read our opinions know how highly we esteem the versatile collaborative pianist Ms. Hierholzer. Watch out for the next event!

(c) meche kroop

BARD SUMMERSCAPE

Mascagni's IRIS at Bard SummerScape

It took three and a half hours on the bus to arrive at Annandale-on-Hudson, home of the beautiful Bard campus, but the pleasant greenery and dinner at the fashionable Spiegeltent restored our spirits.  The sight of Frank Gehry's Fisher Center dazzled the eye; the interior impressed with its comfort, excellent acoustics and fine sight-lines.

But we came for the music--an opportunity to witness a fully staged production of an important but neglected opera--which is the mission of this summer festival.  Pietro Mascagni was a contemporary of Giacomo Puccini, who was both friend and rival. Best known for his 1890 Cavalleria Rusticana, and his L'Amico Fritz of 1891,  Mascagni premiered Iris (also in Rome) in 1898. If one hoped to hear the gorgeous music for which this composer is remembered, one would not be disappointed. 

A chorus celebrating the Sun opens and closes the work and Chorus Master James Bagwell provided the depth and strength the work called for. Similar encomium can be offered to Maestro Leon Botstein, who led his American Symphony Orchestra in an articulate performance of the gorgeous score.  The singers left absolutely nothing to be desired in their performances.

Talise Trevigne's expansive soprano sailed over the orchestra and was just right for the lead and, like the other artists, she did her best to enact what the director requested, although she did not appear completely comfortable dramatically. Mezzo-soprano Cecilia brought a fine timbre to her role as Geisha and enacted a severe presence. Gerard Schneider's full-throated tenor met all of Mascagni's challenges; we felt sorry for him trying to perform a seduction on a most uncomfortable slab.

Douglas Williams seemed most comfortable onstage and exhibited a fine presence as well as a resonant bass-baritone just right for the role of Kyoto.  As the Blind Father, Matthew Boehler's bass truly delivered and he blundered around onstage in a convincing fashion. Samuel Levine's terrific tenor didn't show up until Act III but sounded just fine.

The flaw lay in the libretto. If one hoped for a cogent story with characters one could relate to, as in Cavalleria Rusticana, one definitely would be disappointed!  Since the Victorian era, Europe was in the grip of le japonisme, a fascination with Japan, a country which had been hidden from Western eyes for a very long time and was seen as a highly exotic place.  Composers from Puccini to Arthur Sullivan dipped their toes in Japanese waters.

It is puzzling that Luigi Illica, who would produce such a compelling libretto for Puccini's Madama Butterfly a few years later, would come up with such a weird and static story for Mascagni. Perhaps for audiences of that epoch, the "racy" story of a woman kidnapped for sexual slavery might have been titillating. In common with Madama Butterfly, we are witnessing the story of innocence despoiled. But Puccini's opera offers us some romance along with a remarkably naïve heroine being taken advantage of by narcissistic men!

Iris (Talise Trvigne) is a young girl living with her blind father (Matthew Boehler). She catches the eye of a wealthy fellow Osaka (Gerard Schneider) who teams up with the brothel keeper Kyoto (Douglas Williams) to trick Iris by means of a puppet play that affects her deeply.

The play is performed by three Geishas (dancers Jasmine Albuquerque, Justine Clark, and Kristen Leahy) and three Samurais (Jordan Isidore, Aaron Burr Johnson, and Sam Shapiro).  Chief "Geisha" (sic) was beautifully performed by Cecelia Hall. The "sic" is because Illica's idea of a geisha as a prostitute was only his fantasy.

In the puppet play, a young woman is abused by her father, sold into sexual slavery, and rescued by a figure of transcendence who gives her a spiritual death. Unlike the puppet heroine, Iris is highly valued by her father.

Once brought to the brothel, she mistakes it for paradise and does not respond to the sexual advances of Osaka.  Her father, shamed by her new "status" rejects her. She jumps into a sewer to escape and winds up in some kind of garbage dump of the mind where she encounters a Ragpicker (Samuel Levine).

We prefer our operas to tell a logical tale, rather than an Expressionistic one. We have the same unappreciative response to Pelleas et Melisande, although we love the music.

We are quite sure that James Darrah's monotoned production delighted many but we are not among them. We own up to being rather literal and if a little girl sings about a doll, we'd like to see her playing with it.  If she sings about waking up from a portentous nightmare, we don't understand why she would be dancing around the stage with gleeful abandon. If she mentions her new black sandals, we don't want to see her barefoot.

The set designers (Emily Anne MacDonald and Cameron Jaye Mock) created a bare grey and white set for Act I which takes place in Iris' home. There is nothing but a white wall on which Adam Larsen's designs of shadows were projected. The evil characters occupied a space above.  There was not a single element suggestive of Japan. There was a lot of stuff falling from the sky.  Leaves? Snow?

For the brothel scene of Act II, everything was slick black and white with red neon. Again, nothing was suggestive of Japan nor of the 19th c. The red slab on which Osaka attempts to seduce Iris looked so incredibly uncomfortable we wondered if any seduction could have ever succeeded!

The sewer scene of Act III seemed to be a tower of discarded refuse with the ragpickers searching for anything shiny.  They might have looked in the set for Act II!  Should you be wondering how we thought it might have been better staged, we would have recommended  a concert version, thus avoiding the problematic story!  In the words of the Blind Father "Questo dramma è menzogna tutto! Malvagio in testo".

Peabody Southwell's costumes were consistent with the overall design.  Innocent Iris wore an unflattering ankle-length white dress that did nothing to make her look child-like.  Her blind father looked the most realistic.

The denizens of the red light district all wore black and looked like comic book villains.  The so-called Geishas wore garments suggestive of S&M with lots of straps and thigh-high boots. Kyoto was dressed in a jump suit which plunged to the waist revealing Mr. Williams' handsome chest. (No complaints on that account!)

Bard SummerScape offers many more programs centered around shorter operas and excerpts, offering something for everyone. They provide a lovely respite from the barren summer landscape. Head north and enjoy!

(c) meche kroop

HARRY, HOAGY, AND HAROLD UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

Christine Price, Amanda Lynn Bottoms, Mikaela Bennett, Gerard Schneider, Dimitri Katotakis, and Kelsey Lauritano

It was the final "Sing for Your Supper" cabaret of the season presented by Steven Blier at Henry's Restaurant--and thus a bittersweet evening, as his singular students from Juilliard head off to fulfill their summer engagements and/or studies. They will be spreading their talents far and wide, leaving the Big Apple with a Big Bite taken out of it.

In January, on the stage at Juilliard, we enjoyed a program entitled "Harry, Hoagy, and Harold" (review archived) that was fully staged with plenty of room to show off Mary Birnbaum's directorial skills. Last night we heard some of the same songs and several new ones. Harry Warren (whom Maestro Blier considers to be quite overlooked), Hoagy Carmichael, and Harold Arlen wrote enough songs for dozens of evenings like this one. In many ways, we enjoyed last night's cabaret even more than the stage version. Cabaret as an art form works best up close and personal. 

We can't tell how many times tenor Miles Mykkanen has opened these programs with Richard Rodgers' "Sing For Your Supper" but the song belongs to him and he belongs to the song. He puts his own personal and slightly naughty stamp on the clever lyrics.  What a sensation! No less a sensation than his recent star turn as Tamino in Juilliard's Die Zauberflöte.

We know that at least two of the six performers last night started their singing lives as "Broadway babies" but what about the other four? They have credited Maestro Blier with giving them the jazz style and the jazz beat. To have heard these young artists on the opera stage and then to see them tackle cabaret, without any of the phony cross-over sound that we so dislike, never ceases to astonish us.

Mikaela Bennett performed Harold Arlen's "Sleepin' Bee" from the not very successful 1954 musical House of Flowers; we enjoyed it far more than Barbra Streisand's recording. The piano arrangement by Maestro Blier took our breath away.

Her duet with Amanda Lynn Bottoms "Two Ladies in the Shade of the Banana Tree", from the same musical, was terrific. We have heard them perform this before and would happily hear it again. Lyrics by Truman Capote.

Ms. Bottoms gave a beautiful solo of "That Old Black Magic" which is so familiar--but she made the Mercer/Arlen song sound completely new.  

Kelsey Lauritano, whose recent graduation recital was so impressive, revealed her cabaret background with "I Yi Yi Yi! I Like You Very Much" from the 1941 Gordon/Arlen musical That Night in Rio.  (This was what we referred to in our review as having seen her dance with fruit on her head.) All we can say is "I Yi Yi Yi! We like YOU very much". The entire cast joined for this Latin celebration.

Soprano Christine Price, having just starred as Pamina in Juilliard's production of Die Zauberflöte, showed another side of her talent in a moving performance of the Washington/Carmichael song "The Nearness of You". We loved the way she floated the final note.

She joined Gerard Schneider, who was on hand with his ukulele and his guitar, and entertained us royally with a scene from the 1943 Harburg/Arlen Bloomer Girl. In "Evelina", the hero serenades the eponymous Evelina, thinking she is a servant in the household.  It was cute and funny, thanks to the talents of Ms. Price and Mr. Schneider.

Mr. Schneider also performed a lovely solo of "At Last" from the Gordon/Warren 1941 musical Orchestra Wives, putting his own spin on it.

Baritone Dimitri Katotakis serenaded us with "Skylark", the well known song by Mercer and Carmichael. Mr. Blier told the audience that he only considers two songs to be "perfect". This was one and the other is by Gabriel Fauré!

The ensemble had a few numbers in which to show their ensemble spirit, beside the aforementioned "I Yi Yi Yi". They performed "Cheerful Little Earful", the Ira Gershwin & Billy Rose song with music by Harold Arlen.

They closed the evening with a Mercer/Carmichael tune "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" from the 1951 musical Here Comes the Groom.  

And there was an encore with some lovely harmonies to relish--the Mercer/Arlen tune "Bye Bye Baby" which left the wildly enthusiastic audience in a state of midnight bliss.

(c) meche kroop

HARRY, HOAGY, AND HAROLD

Christine Price, Mikaela Bennett, Samuel Levine, Kelsey Lauritano, Dimitri Katotakis, and Amanda Bottoms (photo by MIchael DiVito)

Thanks to Steven Blier, our "horizons of appreciation" have expanded beyond opera and lieder.  Similarly, the "horizons of performance" of members of the Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts at Juilliard have also been extended to include the classics from the Golden Age of American song.  Last night we experienced some of our favorite artists who became for the evening "hoofers, belters, and comedians". (Those are the words of Maestro Blier, but we wish they were ours).

The program comprised songs of three American greats--Harry Warren, Hoagy Carmichael, and Harold Arlen--three men from greatly different backgrounds but united by their compositional contributions to American musical style.

Tenor Gerard Schneider opened with an instrumental version of Arlen's "Over the Rainbow" played on the acoustic guitar. We never knew he played the guitar but we loved the way he began with a simple statement of the melody which grew in complexity, marked by some lovely arpeggios. Yip Harburg's lyrics were sung only in the mind's ear.

This doesn't mean that Mr. Schneider didn't sing; he sang the haunting lyrics (Mack Gordon) of "At Last" from Orchestra Wives, calling attention to Warren's melodic vocal line.  He also sang "Old Buttermilk Sky" (Jack Brooks) with fellow tenor Samuel Levine joining in with a ukulele (who knew!) and a spirited "Yee-Haw".  These are surely multi-talented artists.

As far as tenors go, Mr. Levine is no slouch! We liked him best in Arlen's "Buds Won't Bud" (lyrics again by the wonderful Mr. Harburg) which built to a passionate crescendo.  He charmed us with Arlen's "Evelina" (Harburg) from Bloomer Girl with ukulele and Southern accent as he wooed Ms. Price.  He assumed a rather world-weary mien for the chromatically complex "Last Night When We Were Young" another Harburg/Arlen pairing from Metropolitan.

Soprano Mikaela Bennett grabbed our attention with a passionately delivered eulogy to the evil lover she had just shot in "Sleep Peaceful, Mr. Used-to-Be" from the Johnny Mercer/Harold Arlen St. Louis Woman, a show which should have been more famous than it was. She also thrilled in a jazzy version of "A Sleepin' Bee" from the Truman Capote/Harold Arlen House of Flowers, which also deserved more fame.

Ms. Bennett paired with mezzo-soprano Amanda Lynn Bottoms for the delightful duet "Two Ladies in de Shade of de Banana Tree", also from House of Flowers. We believe some shows did not become the hits they deserved to be because of cultural issues, not musical flaws.  Ms. Bottoms gave us a very jazzy version of Carmichael's "Old Man Harlem" complete with "scat" singing.

But we enjoyed her most in the Mercer/Arlen "That Old Black Magic" from Star Spangled Rhythm. Mr. Schneider's guitar and Mr. Blier's piano went absolutely wild with abandon.

Soprano Christine Price delivered "It's a New World" with simplicity and sincerity. Arlen's vocal line here was exceptional and Ira Gershwin's lyrics moving. Similarly, Carmichael's "The Nearness of You" (Ned Washington) touched the heart with Ms. Price conveying every ounce of emotion, spinning out the final note like a silken strand.

Mezzo-soprano Kelsey Lauritano did a bang-up job as a Carmen Miranda type character in "I, Yi, Yi, Yi Yi (I Like You Very Much" (Mack Gordon/Harry Warren) from That Night in Rio and "When I Love, I Love"(same team) from Weekend in Havana. Apparently, these tropical musicals put Brazil and Cuba on the map, so to speak. The gentlemen of the cast doffed their shoes, rolled up their trousers, and did a fine send up of Latin caricatures. The ladies of the cast wiggled around with bananas and a pineapple while Ms. Lauritano sported a hatful of fruit.  Major fun!

Another humorous number was "I'm Going Shopping With You" by Harry Warren from Dames. Baritone Dimitri Katotakis put heart and soul into his comedy routine and Mr. Blier contributed a few extra lines giving the ending a gay twist, something Mr. Blier does so delightfully in almost every show.  The beautiful duet "Hard to Replace" from The Barkleys of Broadway (Ira Gershwin/Warren) was sung by Mr. Katotakis and Ms. Lauritano. The lyrics of Gershwin are intensely moving and the two artists filled them with meaning.

The company performed as an ensemble for "Cheerful Little Earful" from Warren's Sweet and Low and in "Jeepers Creepers" from Going Places by Warren. We got to hear Mr. Schneider's guitar again and saw some fun tap dancing.  (Oh, those Juilliard students can do anything!) Adam Cates was credited as choreographer.  They closed with "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" from Here Comes the Groom by Mercer/Carmichael. They sure can harmonize!

Mary Testa was the guest coach and Mary Birnbaum was Stage Director. Ms. Birnbaum always adds something original and clever.  In "The Old Music Master" from True to Life (Mercer/Carmichael), cast members were used as a hat rack and a writing desk while Mr. Katotakis performed the vocals.

In "I'm Going Shopping With You", cast members became clothing racks. And in "Two Ladies in de Shade of de Banana Tree" Ms. Bennett and Ms. Bottoms fought over a fan, to comical effect.

Chris Reynolds was assistant pianist.

This yearly collaboration between Juilliard and New York Festival of Song always produces surprises and delights. Beneath the surface of fun was a lot of hard work but the artistry lies in showing the fun and hiding the labor.

(c) meche kroop

FALL COLORS AT HENRY'S

Mikaela Bennett, Amanda Lynn Bottoms, Thomas West, Gerard Schneider, and Theo Hoffman

Appearing at Henry's Restaurant several times a year are special cabaret evenings hosted by pianist/arranger/teacher/raconteur and all-around wonderful person Steven Blier.  Such is the fame of these evenings that the house is invariably packed with music lovers of every stripe.

Last night was the opening of the season and seasonal it was. Entitled "Fall Colors" the program allowed five wonderful operatic voices the opportunity to expand their presentation into the world of cabaret. Songs are generally chosen by Mr. Blier and the singers themselves; Mr. Blier introduces each song with interesting tidbits of information and accompanies the singers.

Baritone Theo Hoffman was there, fresh off a plane from Atlanta where he performed the role of Schaunard in Puccini's La Bohême (wish we'd been there)--to critical acclaim. How astonishing and delightful to hear him cover Paul McCartney's romantic ballad "Here, There, and Everywhere", putting his own spin on the beautiful song, floating the final note in a gorgeous pianissimo.

Even better was his delivery of Steven Sondheim's "Talent", sung with warmth and humor-- in memory of James Marcus. We also enjoyed the sad "Lonely Town" with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Comden and Green. We've been following Mr. Hoffman's career for a few years and he just keeps getting better and better.

Another voice known to us from Juilliard is that of Amanda Lynn Bottoms.  She too was asked to stretch her artistry in new directions. Accompanied by the talented percussionist Josh Vonderheide on bongo drums, she sang a Cuban song from the 1930's--"Lamento esclavo" by Eliseo Grenet/Aurelio Riancho. The pathos of this song found a counterpart in her performance of the spirited and sexy "Palmira" by Moises Simóns. We always love Spanish songs and were delighted to hear different sides of her artistry.

Equally versatile in her performance was a young lady new to us. Mikaela Bennett is but a sophomore at Juilliard and already a poised and accomplished performer with a stunning voice and the ability to form a deep connection with the material. She was equally proficient with the jazzy style of Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer's "Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home" and their bluesy ballad "I Had Myself a True Love" from St. Louis Woman.

But we were most moved by Adam Guettel's "The Light in the Piazza" (from the show of the same name) in which she totally stepped into the role of the young woman dazzled by Italy and the romantic awakening she lacked words to describe.

No evening is complete without a duet and we just loved hearing Ms. Bennett and Ms. Bottoms singing the suggestive "Two Ladies in the Shade of the Banana Tree" from House of Flowers. It is hard to believe that a show by Harold Arlen and Truman Capote did not have a huge success.

There was another newcomer on the program, recently arrived from Down Under and making his New York debut; he is already on his way to becoming an audience favorite. Gerard Schneider sang "I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues" by Harold Arlen/Ted Koehler.

His next song was a challenging one, having been written  originally for clarinet, by Ralph Burns and adapted for voice and piano by Woody Herman/Johnny Mercer.The 1949 "Early Autumn" is a wistful ballad and Mr. Blier's piano deftly added the image of falling leaves.

For the finale, Mr. Blier abandoned the piano and turned the entire performance over to Mr. Schneider who accompanied himself on the ukulele for "I'll See You in My Dreams" by Isham Jones/Gus Kahn. The audience loved it!

Another newcomer, Thomas West, introduced the program with the song we never tire of --"Sing for Your Supper" by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.

The encore came as a total surprise, an arrangement by Mr. Blier of Smoky Robinson's "You Really Got a Hold on Me", sung as a barbershop quartet by the ensemble. Oh, what fun!!!!

Not to worry if you missed this extraordinary evening.  There will be several more, as well as New York Festival of Song's regular season at Merkin Hall.  Stay tuned!

(c) meche kroop